It’s summer and no one wants to heat up the kitchen by having the oven on at 450 degrees. But sometimes you want a pizza, and chances are the pizza you make yourself will be better than a pizza that you can get delivered.
Cooking a pizza on a barbecue grill isn’t hard, but there is some technique involved. And which method works best for you depends on what kind of grill you have.
As a rule, you’ll be able to use all your favorite pizza toppings. But since it’s summer, lighter toppings such as shrimp or chicken may be more enjoyable.
If you have a gas grill with a lid, it’s a little easier, because you have more control over the temperature and the flames. But charcoal adds more flavor. You can add some wood chips soaked in wine to the coals for extra smokiness.
Pizza on the grill
Before you get started, brush the grill with some oil so your pizza dough won’t stick. Once you roll out your pizza dough, you’ll want to put it on the grill before you put on the pizza toppings, so you need to plan how to transfer it.
You can put some corn meal on a pizza paddle or peel and use that to transfer the dough onto the grill. Another alternative which works really well is to roll out your pizza dough on waxed paper or parchment. Brush some olive oil on the dough, season it with some garlic powder, a little freshly grated Parmesan, and herbs, then take it out to the grill, lay it face down on the grill, and peel off the paper.
Cook the dough on one side until it gets golden brown. Depending on how hot the barbecue is, this might only take a couple of minutes. It may get charred in a few places, but that’s okay. Once it’s done, turn it over and add your pizza toppings.
Make sure all the ingredients are well drained so your crust gets nice and crisp.
Just topped pizzas
You’ll need to keep an eye on things so your pizza doesn’t burn. If you’re using toppings that take a while to cook, such as onions or peppers, you may want to pre-cook them. That way, your pizza will be ready when the cheese is melted and all the ingredients are heated through.
If your grill is big enough, you can also place a pizza stone or pizza pan in the grill, preheat it, and then transfer an already topped pizza to the stone and cook it as you would in a conventional oven. This will produce a pizza that‘s similar to what you‘d get using an oven. So the main advantage to this method is that you won’t heat up the kitchen.
Brian Boitano buys bricks at the home stores, heats those up in his grill and then cooks his pizza on top of the heated bricks. This technique produces a pizza that’s very similar to the brick-oven pizzas that are popular in New York and Chicago.
Pizza on the grill Image Flickr: gesika22
Just topped pizzas Image Flickr: Michael_Lehet
Although you can make pizza with almost any kind of cheese, mozzarella cheese is the hands-down favorite. Stringy, chewy, and slightly salty, it holds its own without overpowering the other pizza toppings. In fact, what many argue is the world’s best pizza — Pizza Margherita — has only tomatoes, fresh basil, and mozzarella as its ingredients. And the flavor is incredible.
There are actually several kinds of mozzarella cheese available. So if you’ve been using the packaged, pre-shredded kind that comes in a plastic bag, branch out and try something different. Fresh, high-moisture cheese produces a pizza that‘s quite different from one made with the low-moisture kind.
Two kinds of mozzarella are used in Naples, which is the pizza center of the universe. Fior di latte is made from cow’s milk — it can be either pasteurized or unpasteurized. And mozzarella di bufala is made from the milk of the water buffalo.
Fresh mozzarella cheese
During the 16h century, water buffalos were brought back to Italy from India. The milk is hard to digest, but it makes cheese that’s sweet and creamy. Unlike mozzarella from cow’s milk, it is pure white. Because there are so few herds, it’s more expensive than fior di latte, but you don’t need much to make a great pizza.
Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, which is made in the area around Naples, is a European Union Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product. Most authentic, Neapolitan pizzas are made with this.
Unlike most cheese, mozzarella isn’t aged and it’s best when it’s very fresh.
To make mozzarella, the cheese curds are heated in water until they form into strings. Then they’re stretched, kneaded, and shaped into balls. This fresh cheese is stored in brine and is quite moist, so you’ll need to drain it and press out the liquid before using it to top your pizza. Otherwise, your crust will be limp.
Pizza with burrata cheese
Don’t grate it. Use a sharp knife and cut it into thin slices, then lay them on top of the pizza about three or four inches apart. They will spread a little during cooking. But this kind of mozzarella should cover the pizza. And consider foregoing other pizza toppings so you can really savor the flavor of the cheese.
Burrata cheese has been eaten in Italy for decades, but it has only recently become popular in the United States. It has an outer shell of mozzarella, and an inner core of fresh cream. When you cut into it, the center oozes out, blends with the mozzarella, and creates a sinfully delicious concoction. The sweetness of burrata is great when combined with salty meats like prosciutto.
As the burrata bakes, it will spread over the surface of the pizza. It’s very rich — and expensive — so use it sparingly.
Smoked mozzarella, also called affumicata, can add a whole other dimension of flavor. And hard, grating cheeses like Parmigiano-Reggiano and Grana Padano also are an excellent complement to fresh mozzarella.
Next time you’re at your grocery store, look in the cheese section for fresh, high moisture mozzarella cheese and give it a try.
When most people think of Chicago pizza, they think of the deep-dish pies with cheese on the bottom. But the best pizza restaurants in Chicago make all kind of pizza. You’ll find organic, designer pies with gourmet pizza toppings, Neapolitan pizzas baked in wood-fired ovens, and square-sliced tavern-style pizzas covered in Italian sausage.
No discussion of Chicago Pizza is complete without mentioning Pizzeria Uno. The first Chicago-style pie was served here in 1943, and it was an immediate hit. So much so that they opened Pizzeria Due on the next block. The dough is made each morning, and the sauce-to-cheese ratio is just right. They make healthy, flatbread pizzas here too. You can choose multi-grain crust and top it with roasted eggplant, spinach, and feta. But why bother? If you come to Chicago and want to try a Chicago-style pizza, go to Pizzeria Uno, order a deep-dish with “the works” and repent later.
Lou Malnati’s is the other legendary Chicago deep-dish pizza restaurant. Lou’s dad, Rudy Malnati, was the chef at Pizzeria Uno, and some even credit him with inventing the deep-dish pizza when he worked there in the 1940s. The first Lou Malnati’s opened in Lincolnwood in 1971. Today, there are 30 Lou Malnati’s in the greater Chicagoland area. But if you don’t live in Chicago, no problem. They ship pizzas on dry ice to anywhere in the United States. The buttery crust travels pretty well.
Bacino’s specializes in stuffed pizzas, and several of them are pretty healthy. The owner, Dan Bacin, is committed to uses the freshest ingredients, and everything here is made from scratch. Spinach, broccoli, and mushroom are popular selections, but plenty of meat toppings are available. Bacino’s has been the top selling pizza at the Taste of Chicago for the last 30 years. The wine list is also a cut above.
Bricks Chicago has been serving gourmet, thin-crust pizzas since 1997. Try a Creole Shrimp Pizza with spicy shrimp, pesto, red peppers, mozzarella, and gouda or a Sweet Heat with chicken breast, bacon, diced jalapeno, smoked gouda, barbecue sauce, and mozzarella. If you don’t like any of the specialties, you can create your own with interesting pizza toppings like Maytag bleu cheese, pureed artichokes, or banana peppers. Bricks has a good selection of microbrews on draught and in the bottle.
Fans of Neapolitan pizza should head to Coalfire. The coal-burning oven here reaches temperatures up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit, which produced a crispy, yet chewy crust with a little bit of charring. In a departure from the Naples way, the pizza is topped with cheese first, and then tomato sauce. Three topping or fewer are recommended — the crust can’t hold up to more than that. The white pizza with ricotta, mozzarella, Romano cheese and fresh basil is delicious. And the Pizza Margherita may be the best in Chicago. Coalfire used to be BYOB, but they’re now serving beer and wine.
The first certified, organic pizza restaurant in the Midwest, Crust serves inventive flatbread pizzas that are cooked in a wood-burning oven. Try a cocktail made with one of their vodka infusions. Start your meal with brussel sprouts with crispy bacon, tapenade, roasted peppers, kalamata olives, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, goat cheese, and flatbread pieces, or a winter beet salad. Then try a pizza with slow-cooked beef brisket, house-made barbecue sauce and pepper jack cheese, or a Carbonara with bacon, béchamel, caramelized onions, peas, and a sunny-side up egg.
Famous for its stuffed pizzas, Giordano’s has been in business since 1974. Two brothers from a town near Torino, Italy, named the restaurant after their mother, who made a double-crust pizza that inspired the pies served here. The flaky, buttery crust is what set Giordano’s apart — that and the prodigious amounts of stringy, mozzarella packed inside it. For something different, try the shrimp pizza.
One of the other great places in Chicago for Naples-style pizza is Sapore di Napoli. They import many of their ingredients from Italy, including Molino Caputo 00 flour, Bufala Mozzarella, and Calabria salami. Although the tomatoes aren’t the traditional San Marzanos from Campania, but Stanislaus from California. In keeping with Neapolitan tradition, toppings are simple and few. Try Quattro Formaggi with mozzarella, Italian gorgonzola, fontina, and Parmigiano Reggiano or Patate e Rosmarino with sliced potatoes and rosemary. Save room for some of their delicious gelato — there are more than a dozen flavors nightly.
The Art of Pizza serves deep-dish, thin-crust, and stuffed pizzas. They also serve Italian-style subs on yummy bread, ribs, wings, and pasta. But the deep-dish pies, voted best in the city by the Chicago Tribune, are the big draw. Try the Southwestern stuffed pizza with barbecue sauce, ground beef, onions, and bacon. Or the special with sausage, onions, mushrooms, and green pepper. For dessert, have a creamy, ricotta-filled cannoli.
Members of all the Neapolitan pizza associations, including Associazione Pizzauoli Napoletani and L’Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana, Spacca Napoli makes authentic Naples-style pizza in a custom-made, wood-burning oven. In business since 2006, they import their flour, San Marzano tomatoes, and extra virgin olive oil. There’s an assortment of novel appetizers like new potatoes, tuna, cucumber, and capers or white anchovies over arugula, cherry tomatoes, and olives. A nice selection of Italian wines, and some lovely desserts. When the weather’s nice, you can dine outside on the terrace.
